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Lead researcher Dr Quentin Anstee, of Newcastle University, said: "It is amazing to think a small change in the code for just one gene can have such profound effects on complex behaviours like alcohol consumption.

"We are continuing our work to establish whether the gene has a similar influence in humans, though we know in people that alcoholism is much more complicated as environmental factors come into play.

"But there is the real potential for this to guide development of better treatments for alcoholism in the future."

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The variant of Gabrb1 triggers chemicals known as GABA and GABAA that control feelings of pleasure and reward in the brain.

"The mutation is altering its structure and creating spontaneous electrical activity in the brain in this pleasure zone, the nucleus accumbens," Dr Anstee said.

"As the electrical signal from these receptors increases, so does the desire to drink to such an extent that mice will actually work to get the alcohol, for much longer than we would have expected."

Professor Howard Thomas, of Imperial College London, said: "We know from previous human studies the GABA system is involved in controlling alcohol intake.

"Our studies in mice show a particular subunit of GABAA receptor has a significant effect and most importantly the existence of these mice has allowed our collaborative group to investigate the mechanism involved. This is important when we come to try to modify this process first in mice and then in man."